As I read it here the idrive converts it to 128 wma when it transfers it to the onboard drive. I would not want this to happen to my music. USB SSD flash drives are getting cheap in the smaller sizes and quite reasonable in somewhat larger sizes that would be adequate for most people to fit entire collections if that were the goal.

Much, much easier than burning discs unless a person is of a mind to be stubborn. lol If thats the case I can't really cast any stones, done it myself.

Yeah, I definitely don't want my music to be compressed to wma 128.

I guess my previous car didn't support USB audio, hence I've been relying on burning custom MP3 CDs. But you are right, get a 16G USB and stick it in the armrest. This also allows me to change / update songs with ease.

Buy a 32 GB flash drive... put all your songs on it. Program one of the hot keys to the root directory of the flash drive.

done.

+1

You can load tons and tons of MP3's (based on a folder structure, like Artist, Albumn) onto a USB stick, and then import them. You won't need your iPhone connected after that.

Per the manual:
Connect the USB device to connector 2, using
a flexible adapter cable.
After the device is connected for the first time,
the information on all tracks (e.g. artist, type of
music) and the playlists are transferred from the
USB device to the vehicle. This procedure may
take some time. The duration depends on the
USB device and the number of tracks.
During transmission, the tracks can be called up
via the file directory.
Information from up to four USB devices can be
stored in the vehicle, or a total of about 16,000
tracks.
If a fifth USB device is connected or if more than
16,000 tracks are stored, information on exist-
ing tracks may be deleted.